Citizens' Assembly to vote on trade and immigration policy for UK after Brexit

27 September 2017

A randomly selected group of citizens from across the UK will
vote this weekend on preferences for the UK's trade and immigration policy
after Brexit - including whether we should remain members of the Single Market,
seek a bespoke trade deal, or go it alone.

As well as
deliberating on the options, Assembly members will be addressed by prominent
Brexit advocate Graham Brady MP - Chair of the Conservative backbench 1922
Committee - and Labour's Kate Green MP, a Single Market supporter.

The Citizens'
Assembly on Brexit [1] is seeking to put voters' voices at the centre of the EU
debate following fevered debate in parties over what direction negotiations
should take. It brings together 51 randomly selected members of the
public who reflect the diverse make-up of the electorate as a whole. Their
views will be compiled in a major report to be presented to MPs in Westminster
in November.

Timetable

Fri 29 September to Sun 01 October in Manchester.

Friday: Assembly
members will travel to Manchester for evening meetings. Conservative MP Graham Brady and Labour MP Kate Green [2] will
briefly address the Assembly at around 19.30 and answer members' questions.

Saturday,
09:00 to around 17:30: Members will deliberate throughout the day on their
priorities, and how the various Brexit options will match these.

Sunday,
09:30 to around 13:30: Assembly members will deliberate further and vote on
their preferences for Brexit. Voting results will be announced around 12:00 and
13:00 to Assembly members and journalists present.

This event follows an initial weekend of learning and
deliberation earlier this month, when Assembly Members shared their own
priorities and heard from leading experts on all sides and none. They explored
how the various options might impact the economy, jobs, public services,
sovereignty, and other matters.

This final weekend comes at a crucial time as the UK/EU
negotiations move towards discussion of future relations as well as the terms
of the 'divorce deal'. Assembly members are particularly considering the
relationship that the UK should seek with the EU after Brexit on trade and
immigration.

"The final weekend of the Citizens' Assembly on Brexit
couldn't come at a more pressing time. As the negotiations ramp up, it's vital
that voters themselves have a say on what Brexit should look like. This
randomly selected group of citizens will offer the deepest insight yet into what
the public really think on the key Brexit trade-offs on trade and immigration.

"The Citizens' Assembly brings together voters of all shades
of opinion and from all parts of the UK to chart what Brexit should look like.
It offers vital insights for politicians from across the spectrum -and bears
watching closely."

The recommendations will be written up in a final report and
presented to key decision-makers at a high-profile Westminster event.

[1] Citizens'
Assemblies have been increasingly used across Europe and North America to
formulate proposals on key policy and constitutional issues often associated with
referendums - with Ireland's Constitutional Convention, based on the citizens'
assembly model, recently leading the way towards the legalisation of same-sex
marriage.

The Citizens' Assembly on Brexit has 51 members who have
been selected with the assistance of polling company ICM to reflect the
diversity of the UK's population in terms of gender, age, place of residence,
social class, ethnicity, and attitudes to Brexit. The Assembly's ideas will
enrich public debates over the form that Brexit should take, just at the time
when key choices and trade-offs are crystallising.

The project is part of the ESRC-funded 'UK in a Changing
Europe' initiative, and is the first example of deep
public deliberation on what form Brexit should take. It is organised by leading
academics at UCL's Constitution Unit, in partnership with the
University of Westminster's Centre for the Study of Democracy, the University
of Southampton, Involve, and the Electoral Reform Society.

As well as being a major democratic project, the Citizens'
Assembly on Brexit will lead to a range of academic outputs, alongside comment
pieces, blogs and social media work - offering new insights into how democratic
decision-making is best organised.

The project team has worked closely with others in
developing the Assembly plans, including parliamentarians, experts,
journalists, and campaigners on all sides of the Brexit debate. This helps
ensure that the approach taken is scrupulously even-handed. The full membership
of the project's Advisory Board is available on the Citizens' Assembly on Brexit website.

The project team already
has expertise in running similar assemblies - including conducting the UK's
first citizens' assemblies on local devolution in Sheffield and Southampton in
late 2015. For more information on these visit the Citizens' Assembly website.

[2] Graham
Brady is Conservative MP forAltrincham and Sale West, and Chair of the
Conservative backbench 1922 Committee. He is a keen supporter of Brexit.